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SRINIVASAN, R. Aiyanars Domain: Political and Social Conditions and Attitudes in Tamil Vol\ Literature BOOK REVIEWS 199 California Press. D ir k s , Nicholas B. 1996 Reading culture: Anthropology and textualization of India. In Culture/con texture: Explorations in anthropology and literary studies，E. Valentine Daniel and Jeffrey M. Peck, eds. Berkeley: University of California Press. U c h iya m a d a Yasushi Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development SRINIVASAN, R. Aiyanars Domain: Political and Social Conditions and Attitudes in Tamil Vol\ Literature. Bombay: Research Book Centre, 1993. iii + 72 pages. References. Paper n.p.; ISBN 81-7287-000-0. Aiyanar’s Domain is an important addition in the storehouse of Indian folk literature, dealing with the social as well as philosophical aspects of a farmer’s life. Its insights apply not only to Tamilnadu; the situations and circumstances are almost the same in the agrarian societies of Southeast Asia. The struggle faced by the simple folk in daily life is beautifully mirrored in this slim volume. A spirit of wonder and romance is hidden in Tamil folk songs, sayings, and stories. The amount of wisdom, knowledge, and information (ethnic, historical, economic, political, natural, meteorological, etc.) to be found in oral tradition is amazingly vast. For the nonliterate masses of the countryside these traditions provide education and entertainment. Srinivasan gracefully presents here the eminent Tamil folklorist, the late S. M. Natesa Sastri, and his collection. Along with stories of kings and commoners there is a description of the political messages, wit, and wisdom of Tenali Raman, the court jester of South India. His stories show that the general public is endowed with an intelligence and native wit that acts as a cushion against the trials of a hard life. Rayar Appaji was a hero-minister in South India in ancient times who had the highest concern for the dharma and for protecting the interests of both the community and the king; his intelligence and kindness are depicted in many pop­ ular folktales. The author has classified folktales into marga and desi varieties. Marga stories are formalized, sanscritic, and centered on the royalty. The desi stories are less formal native traditions registering the protests of the commoners against kings and their court officials. Like folktales, the Tamil folk songs are of two types. The shorter ones, called mangu^ are brief and to the point and deal with everyday life. The longer ones, called ^ummi and ammanai’ are composed around the themes of kings, chieftains, poligars, and local heroes. In addition, the lifestyle and mannerisms of the British are also popular subjects of political bal­ lads. The physical power of the British, French, Dutch and others is not questioned, but their cruelty and manipulativeness are well described. According to Srinivasan, proverbs help us to better understand ourselves and our preva­ lent social and political attitudes. In Africa, China, and Persia proverbs are profusely used even in high-class speaking. The same was true of Tamilnadu in olden times. Again the proverbs are divided into two types, broadly following the classification of sto­ ries into marga and desi. The author says that about forty percent of the proverbs are related to matters of social concern: attitude towards inequality, altruism, family relations, women, age, and hierarchy, as can be seen in such examples as “No sparrow can aspire to be an eagle” or “A lion cub can become porcine by associating with piglets.” Such sayings teach us lessons drawn from the vegetable, animal, and natural world. To demonstrate the universality of the themes, Marathi proverbs are also given in 200 BOOK REVIEWS appendix 1.Appendices 2，3 and 4 are added to show the beauty of folktales through some illustrative examples. Unfortunately the author does not make it clear as to which sayings, songs, and stories were collected by himself. All seem to have been taken from already pub­ lished material. Although the book has aroused considerable cultural interest in the life of the ordinary people of Tamilnadu (and the whole of India as well), better work in book binding would surely have made this extremely readable book more valuable to lovers of folklore. M a n ju BHATNAGAR Delhi WILLIAMS, JOANNA. The Two-Headed Deer: Illustrations o f the Ramayana in Orissa, California Studies in the History of Art 34. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. xiii + 210 pages. 289 b/w illustrations,12 color plates, maps, tables, bibliography, index. Cloth US$65.00; ISBN 0-520- 08065-3. The Two-Headed Deer is a beautifully illustrated case study of the tradition of visually por­ traying the well-known epic tale of Rama and Slta in a relatively small geographical region of India. Although tms cross-genre case study may be too narrowly focused to appeal to a gen­ eral audience, scholars of art, literature, and oral-tradition narrative in India will find a great deal to interest them in this clear and concisely written scholarly work. As a result of the popularity of the Ramayana in general and of the Vaisnava inclusion of Rama as an avatar ofVishnu in particular, depictions of scenes from the Ramayana can be found all over India and Southeast Asia. Temple carvings in stone and wood often include one or more scenes that emphasize Rama's connection to Vishnu; Vishnu's ongoing fight against the demons of chaos, such as Ravana, who periodically ensnare the world; or the devotional acts of Rama's brother Bharata and of ms faithful servant Hanuman. Even out­ side ofVaisnava circles the Ramayana is a popular and well-known tale. As an nistorian of art, Williams is particularly interested in the artists’ reasons for pro­ ducing their work ana in the way that they produce it. Her descriptions of the differences in various artists，representations of scenes from the Ramayana are among the strongest sections of this excellent study. She demonstrates clearly that the Orissan painters and illustrators were not simply reproducers of fixed pictorial representations but were creators of visual multi­ forms in a manner similar to the creation of narrative multiforms by oral traditional story­ tellers. She concludes that the structural frameworks of the pictorial multiforms of the Ramayana are based on the traditional Indian aesthetic theory of rasa. Rasas are the emotions and moods that are evoked in an audience by a work of visual, dramatic, or narrative art. Williams discusses a wide range of visual presentations and performances of the Ramayana in Orissa, including temple carvings, dance traditions, shadow theater, and dra­ matic Ramlila performances, but her main focus is on the sequential series of illustrations found on palm-leaf folios, in temple paintings, and on playing cards from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The principal illustrations that she discusses are seven illustrated versions of the Adhyatma Ramayana, four illustrated versions of the Lavanyavati painted by the same illustrator, the temple paintings of Rama in the Jagannatha Temple in Puri ana in the Virancni Narayana Temple in Buguda, three sets of playing cards that are sequenced according to suit and numerical order, and various cloth paintings. Whenever possible Williams discusses the individual artists and the ways that their styles developed and changed over time..
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